Original paper
Jiří Váňa as a teacher and mentor
Kučera, Jan
Nova Hedwigia, Beihefte Beih. 150 (2020), p. 15 - 16
published: Jul 28, 2020
DOI: 10.1127/nova-suppl/2020/015
ArtNo. ESP051015000001, Price: 29.00 €
Abstract
My decision on choosing Jiří as the supervisor of my thesis, had not been planned long before I did this. Although my affinity to botany in general increased during the first two years of my studies, I knew nothing about bryophytes in late 1991 or early 1992 when I selected the topic for my masters thesis. It was my father, himself a botanist, who pointed me toward the bryophytes as a little known, yet intriguing part of the vegetation. And he added that if I want to learn about these inconspicuous plants, it is Jiří, his slightly older colleague, whom to ask first. It was actually a remarkable recommendation. Only two years passed at that time since the collapse of communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe. At that time of the uneasy start of turnover to democratic conditions, there was of course a general distrust of people connected with the previous regime in academic institutions. Jiří, as a chairman of one of the communist cells of his faculty, was one of them, while my father was one of those who strived never to be connected with the regime in any way. But at the same time, he obviously not only trusted Jiří’s scientific erudition, but also acknowledged that his cooperation with the previous regime was not of a kind that would disqualify him from overall professional and human recognition.